India will deliver COVID-19 vaccine couple of months 500 million doses july august harsh vardhan

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India will deliver COVID-19 vaccine in a couple of months, 500 million doses by July-August: Harsh Vardhan

India will deliver a COVID-19 vaccine in a couple of months, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday. He said about 400-500 million doses will be made available by July-August for 25-30 crore people.

"Our scientists are well-ahead of others in terms of research around vaccine development. We are in a position that I can confidently tell Indians that in a couple of months from now, we should be able to deliver a vaccine," Harsh Vardhan told reporters today.

The minister said healthcare workers and people aged above 65 will be early recipients when a vaccine becomes available.

"It is natural the vaccine distribution would have to be prioritised. As you know the healthcare workers who are corona warriors they will be prioritised, then people who are above 65 years of age they have been prioritised, then those from 50-65 years of age have been prioritised. Then those below 50 years who have other diseases. It is all being decided by experts with a scientific point of view. We have made a very detailed, meticulous plan on this. What we would have to do in March-April next year, we have started planning for it from now only," Vardhan said.

Meanwhile, India's coronavirus caseload surged to 89,58,483 on Thursday with 45,576 new infections being recorded in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,31,578 with 585 new fatalities.

The phase-3 trial of the Oxford vaccine of the Serum Institute is almost near completion, while the phase-3 clinical trial of the indigenously-developed vaccine candidate of the Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already started.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories will soon start the combined phase-2 and phase-3 clinical trials of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in India. Also, the Biological E Limited has started early phases 1 and 2 human trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Pfizer Inc.and BioNTech SE said their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 95 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19, while Moderna on Monday said its vaccine candidate against COVID-19 found it to have an efficacy of 94.5 per cent. (With PTI inputs)